PARIS (AFP)--Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and some of
his key ministers arrived in France on Monday as they try to drum
up European investment for a country seeking recovery after six
years of war.
Maliki was to meet President Nicolas Sarkozy on his first
official visit to France, which opposed the 2003 U.S. invasion that
overthrew Saddam Hussein, and was keen to play down fears of a new
upswing in violence.
April was the bloodiest month in Iraq since September 2008: 355
Iraqis and 18 U.S. soldiers were killed in various violent attacks,
casting a pall over Maliki's attempts to convince Europeans it is
now safe to invest.
"What happened in recent times does not call into doubt the
stabilization process. There's no question of returning to the
situation we had two years ago," Maliki told an audience of French
diplomats and journalists.
He blamed recent bomb attacks on "defeated factions who are
carrying out limited operations" and said France should join the
countries that, "having banned their companies from Iraq are now
encouraging them to come."
"Iraq is no longer a threat to international peace. We would
like the international community to support us," he said.
Last month, during a visit to Paris, Iraqi Vice President Adel
Abdel Mahdi said French oil giant Total SA (TOT) had been invited
to bid to develop two major oil fields in southern Iraq.
In February, Electricity Minister Karim Wahid said France had
been asked to help Iraq build a nuclear power plant, three decades
after Israeli jets destroyed an Iraqi reactor France had built for
Saddam.
Iraq has also ordered French-built helicopters for its armed
forces, and has made it clear that it wants as much French
investment as possible to boost its reconstruction campaign.
According to Iraqi officials, Total, France's largest and most
profitable firm, had forged a partnership with U.S. giant Chevron
Corp (CVX), and has been asked to bid for a contract to exploit the
Nahr Bin Umar oil field.
The officials said the amount of investment needed by the
Total-Chevron partnership hasn't yet been decided, but that a
figure in the region of 15 billion dollars had been discussed.
The vice president's delegation said the fields in which Total
was most interested had the potential to produce more than 1
million barrels of crude a day over a 14-year period.
Total hasn't commented on the potential deal.